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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24185524">One Day</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlipSideofC/pseuds/FlipSideofC'>FlipSideofC</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hostage Situations, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Timeskip, Student!Kuroo, Well it was canon compliant when I wrote it, Youtuber!Kenma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:55:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,503</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24185524</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlipSideofC/pseuds/FlipSideofC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kozume Kenma thought it would be fun to one day have one of his live streams break the 700k viewer barrier. </p><p>Kuroo Tetsurou thought it would be fun if one day his and Kenma’s relationship was made public. </p><p>Kodzuken’s viewers thought it would be fun to one day learn a bit more about the elusive youtuber’s personal life. </p><p>That one day is today, though none of them found it particularly funny at the time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>112</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1126</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>BHF, Kuroken(hasbroheybro), My favorite haikyuu fics, Recommended KuroKen Fics, Time Skip</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>One Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">

        <li>
          Translation into Español available: 
            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30525819">Un Día</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karmatema/pseuds/Karmatema">Karmatema</a>
        </li>


    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Yes, I wrote this instead of finishing the SciFi one, which is about 80% done. Oops</p><p> </p><p>https://twitter.com/flipsideofc</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kenma glanced at the clock. It was time to wrap up the stream and then eat lunch, look over the edit of the video from last night, grind a bit in that new game to prepare for tomorrow and then relax with Kuroo before he got some more work done later tonight. The current stream was one of his least viewed time-slots, but he still did it because several viewers had begged him to, being unable to catch the other ones. Kenma quite liked the change of pace sometimes.  </p><p>A noise from the other side of the house made him frown. Kuroo wouldn’t be home for several hours and would never disturb a stream. It didn’t sound like the cats either. After listening for a while and hearing nothing, he shrugged and relaxed again, assuming it must have been the cats after all. </p><p>“Alright, now that we’ve gone over how to beat level 10, for the next time I’ll focus on…”</p><p>A crash from behind made Kenma whip his head around to stare as two men marched into the room. Kenma blinked in confusion and alarm. He recoiled when the men approached him, though he didn’t get any further than his desk. His chat started to go off, asking what was wrong. Some were asking if it was a game and Kenma fervently wished it was. </p><p>“Who…?” Kenma started, before he was cut off by a gun pointed at him. </p><p>Kenma shut up immediately, the chat now going into a frenzy on the screen. </p><p>“We’re going to send a message and you’re going to do it for us.” the man who didn’t point a gun at him said conversationally, as if speaking of the weather. </p><p>Kenma swallowed and nodded slowly. </p><p>“What message do you want to send?”</p><p>“How many are looking at your sending now?”</p><p>Kenma glanced at the screen. </p><p>“Around 30 000.”</p><p>“How do you see that?”</p><p>Kenma pointed to the number on the screen. Did they not know anything about tech, or did they just lack knowledge of youtubing? Who were they? He eyed them discreetly. </p><p>The men were dressed in non-descript black clothing, without any logos or distinctive marks. Their hair was cut short and they looked muscled and well-trained. One of them seemed more angry than the other, who appeared rather mild-mannered. Kenma knew looks could be deceiving, but he’d already decided that Goon B was probably the “good cop” of the duo. </p><p>“And they can see your screen?”</p><p>“Yes, they can see what I play.”</p><p>“You can write to them?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Write that… minister Okuda should contact us, regarding Takeda, on this number.”</p><p>Kenma nodded and wrote that down dutifully in the chat. It was soon buried in his viewers’ frantic comments and questions. </p><p>“That doesn’t seem very effective.” </p><p>Goon A started to wave the weapon around. </p><p>“I told you this was a bad idea!”</p><p>“It should work. As far as I’ve heard, this guy has millions of followers!”</p><p>“Well they don’t seem to look right now, do they!?”</p><p>Kenma swallowed. He wasn’t quite sure if he wanted the attention, but if they were frustrated they might take it out on him, so he should probably try to do something. He thanked the stars that Kuroo wasn’t home and the cats were out. </p><p>“Um...it’s a lot of text in the chat, so it could be hard to catch.”</p><p>Goon A glared at him, but the other cocked his head. </p><p>“What do you mean? Is there a better way?”</p><p>“I could...maybe put the text on the screen instead, so it doesn’t disappear.”</p><p>“You do that.”</p><p>Kenma wrote the message all over the screen. He noticed that the viewer counter had increased to 80 000 already and the chat was now mainly either speculating on the men’s motives or wondering if he was ok. He hoped at least <i>someone</i> had called the police. </p><p>“Now then, we wait.” Goon B said, sitting down. </p><p>Goon A walked around in agitated circles, making Kenma nervous. He stared at the screen, trying to ignore them both. They were pacing around a lot, sometimes pausing to discuss in hushed whispers, sometimes looking over the gadgets that littered his office. Kenma wondered if they were on drugs and if it would make it better or worse to try to engage them in conversation. He decided it was best to avoid it as long as possible. Unfortunately, the goons decided to take notice of him again. </p><p>“So <i>Kodzuken</i>...what kind of a name is that?”</p><p>“It’s just a shortened form of my name”, Kenma said carefully. </p><p>“Which is?”</p><p>“Kozume...Kenma.”  </p><p>Kenma didn’t like giving out personal information in his streams. This one wasn’t so bad. His name was public knowledge after all, but it wasn’t usually broadcasted. He was happy to share his thoughts of games and he wasn’t shy about showing his feelings of frustration or happiness when he played, even if he was mainly known for his gaming face. </p><p>“And you stream like this? All day?”</p><p>“Not all day, but from time to time, yes.”</p><p>“Isn’t it boring?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“A bit more feeling in the responses here Kodzu! We’re getting to know each other here!”</p><p>Kenma swallowed. </p><p>“It’s not boring to me, because I like gaming.”</p><p>Goon A pointed the gun to Kenma’s headset. The metal made a clong and the gesture caused Kenma to flinch.  </p><p>“Cat headphones, huh. Do you like cats?”</p><p>“Companies like to send me technology to try out”, Kenma said, hoping they’d stop asking about that. </p><p>“Is that so…but you must like cats too, I assume, since you have cats.”</p><p>“Yes…”  </p><p>Kenma swore inwardly. They had noticed. It was honestly hard not to, with all the cat furniture and toys that littered the house. He hoped the cats would stay out, suddenly afraid they’d break their habit and come inside early. </p><p>“What are their names?”</p><p>“Mochi and Pie.”</p><p>“Because you like that, I take it.”</p><p>“Yes…”</p><p>“You have a girlfriend, Kodzu?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“You live in this big house, all by yourself?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Funny, because it looks like there’s more than one person living here.”</p><p>Goon A waved a shirt mockingly back and forth in front of his face. </p><p>“This shirt is way too big for you.”</p><p>“I have friends over often.”</p><p>“These friends, I assume?” Goon B gestured towards the big assortment of photo frames in the room. </p><p>Kuroo had put them together for him last year. Kenma liked having them there to glance at when he was working, though they weren’t visible to his viewers. </p><p>Kenma nodded. </p><p>The man went back to rummaging around the room. </p><p>“What’s this?” He said, holding up a figurine. </p><p>“It’s a souvenir from a friend.”</p><p>“This?”</p><p>“That’s a volleyball.”</p><p>The man tossed it straight in his face. Hard. Kenma blocked it automatically, old familiar adrenaline a pleasant distraction from his current tension. </p><p>“Don’t be a smartass Kodzu. We don’t like that.”</p><p>“I used to play volleyball, so I still have it.”</p><p>“There, that wasn’t so hard was it?”</p><p>A small beep sounded from Kenma’s screen. </p><p>“Is anyone trying to reach you?”</p><p>Kenma glanced at the screen. The viewer counter now showed 200 000 people were watching. </p><p>“No, that’s just my task list.”</p><p>Goon A started to pace back and forth, looking frustrated.</p><p>“Maybe if we just shoot him.”</p><p>“Not yet.”</p><p>Kenma had never been so glad to hear a ring tone as he was in that moment.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>Kuroo sat down with his tray and started to chat with his nearest classmate about the recent lecture.</p><p>“Oi Kuroo, your friend Kodzuken is trending.”</p><p>Kuroo grinned brightly. “Did he beat a game? Must be a good one. One time he…”</p><p>The guy frowned into his phone and said nothing, then began to look increasingly alarmed. </p><p>Kuroo felt a slight chill. </p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“Uh….”</p><p>“What is it?!”</p><p>Several of the others in the room looked over in shock and disapproval. Kuroo didn’t care about any of them and grabbed the phone to look. </p><p>
  <i>Kodzuken hostage</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Japan’s most viewed youtuber, Kozume Kenma (23), also known as Kodzuken, is being held at gunpoint by two men. They have made demands to speak to a minister Okuda and threaten to kill their hostage. All of Kodzuken’s viewers, as well as several others, are following the drama, which is still displayed live on Youtube. Some say this is all a game, while others claim it’s genuine. There is no release of information from the police, nor the government, as of yet. </i>
</p><p>Kuroo swallowed as he read more on the page and turned even more pale the more of the situation he grasped. He brought up his phone and turned to Kenma’s page, joining 500 000 other viewers watching Kenma’s carefully neutral face, with two men in the background. </p><p>“So Kodzu...why the long hair?”</p><p>“I made a vow never to cut it until I’ve beaten the high score of Fortnite.”</p><p>Kuroo groaned. On the one hand he was glad Kenma could lie at gunpoint, but sooner or later his snark might make these guys mad. Kuroo was personally convinced Kenma kept his hair long for his sake, but his notoriously unromantic boyfriend refused to admit it. </p><p>“Do you have an alarm here in the house? Cameras?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Turn them on. We want to see if anyone is getting close.”</p><p>Kenma turned on the cameras around the house, though Kuroo immediately noticed he left two off. </p><p>“How much do you make doing this?”</p><p>“Um...it depends. It’s mainly ads, so it varies a lot depending on the quantity of viewers.”</p><p>“What do you do with all the money?”</p><p>“Rent?”</p><p>Kuroo flinched as the guy with the gun glared at Kenma. Shit, he was going to get killed sooner or later. Kuroo could tell the difference between Kenma’s tired snark, sardonic snark and stressed out snark, but he doubted anyone else could. Kenma’s deadpan comments could definitely be mistaken for defiance, if you wanted to. Kuroo had a feeling these guys probably wanted to. </p><p>Kuroo needed to talk to the Police quickly. After all, he could tell them about the house and cameras, and lend them his keys. He needed to do <i>something</i>. And he had to call Kenma’s parents. He excused himself and ran out, still staring at the screen as if he could tell Kenma to please hang in there.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>“Um...food, wifi, insurance. Normal things.”</p><p>“You make a lot of money. Surely that has to go somewhere.”</p><p>“I buy a lot of tech and games. I send some money to my family. Nothing exciting.”</p><p>“Is that so? Why don’t you bring that bank statement up then?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You heard me. Bring it up.”</p><p>Kenma swallowed and logged into his personal bank account. The numbers were high, but not astronomically so. All of Kenma’s money went into Bouncing Ball after all and he just received a regular salary from the company. Kenma was very glad for this setup now. </p><p>“Rent….wifi...insurance…cat food, cat toys, games, tech, Daiso… hmmm….lots of bakery visits there Kodzu…”<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>Kuroo burst into the police station. After lots of explaining, Kuroo finally ended up in a room with several other busy people and Kenma’s pale face on a big screen.</p><p>“Kuroo-kun, we need you to draw us a map. We need all exits, all windows, everything. You mentioned you can access the cameras and alarm from your phone?”</p><p>Kuroo nodded, relieved to be able to do something.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>Kenma tried to just stare straight ahead. What was with these guys? After the first call, they’d ignored all others. Didn’t they want to be contacted about their demands? If so, what did they want? Fame? Attention? They seemed far too interested in how many were watching. The chat was moving at a crazy rate and he noted absent-mindedly that the viewer count was now well above 700 000. </p><p>“Kozume Emiko, is that your family?”</p><p>“My mother,” Kenma said tightly. </p><p>“Kuroo Aiko?”</p><p>“My grandmother,” Kenma said, hoping Kuroo didn’t see this, for many reasons.</p><p>“You do send them lots of money. Shit these accounts are pretty boring. Just lots of tech tech tech, food, cats and your family. Do you never buy anything fun?”</p><p>Kenma wanted to say that games were fun, but that would likely just provoke them further. </p><p>“Ooooh wait, what’s this? ‘Rings etc’ from Room403 Jewelry?”</p><p>Kenma felt the colour drain from his face. </p><p>“It says you bought rings for almost 600 thousand yen. Now <i>that</i> sounds like fun Kodzu. Why don’t you tell us more about that.”</p><p>“It was...a gift.”</p><p>“That’s a pretty big gift. Show us!”</p><p>“They’re not here.”</p><p>“Which room are they in?”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“Which room? Now, if you don’t tell us, we are going to look everywhere, not so gently.”</p><p>“They’re in the bedroom, in a red box under the bed.”</p><p>Goon B left the room, leaving Kenma with Goon A. Kenma’s head swam with panicked thoughts and he felt sweat roll down his back. Without the other guy present, Kenma was afraid the lunatic would snap at any moment. </p><p>“Meow”</p><p>Kenma looked aghast at Pie, who casually strolled towards him. The cat was clearly aiming for his lap. Before the small calico could reach him however, the man scooped him up, causing the cat to mewl faintly.   </p><p>“What a cutie! Now is this Pie or Mochi?”</p><p>“It’s Pie.” Kenma said tightly.</p><p>“Do you want to say goodbye to Pie?”</p><p>Kenma swallowed. </p><p>“Please put him down.”</p><p>“I <i>said</i>, do you want to say goodbye to Pie?”<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>“Kuroo-kun, stay here until we’re ready to move.”</p><p>Kuroo stared at the screen as the police barked orders around him.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>“I found the bling.” Goon B stated, strolling into the room. “Oh, you found a cat.”</p><p>“I was just saying we should shoot the cat. Maybe it’ll speed things up a bit. I think this bastard here is being difficult on purpose.”</p><p>“Oh I’m sure he’s dying to tell us about these rings first.”</p><p>The man displayed an opened box holding two rings, then snapped it shut right in front of Kenma’s face. </p><p>“So Kodzu...you mentioned you didn’t have a girlfriend. I don’t like it when you lie to us.”</p><p>“I wasn’t lying.”</p><p>Goon A started to poke Pie with the gun. The cat tried to get away, mewling in protest. </p><p>“I have a boyfriend.” Kenma said, looking at the cat in panic. </p><p>“Is that so… and this boyfriend is the owner of the big clothes and the recipient of one of these rings?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“This is the guy?” the man said, holding up one of the picture frames from the bedroom, a candid of them both from last summer with Kenma kissing Kuroo on the nose. </p><p>It was one of Kuroo’s favourites. Kenma stared at the picture to gather more strength. </p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Now, you do deserve some punishment for lying to us... we could kill the cat, or you could sacrifice something that means a lot to you. Or we could shoot you. Or maybe we should just do all three.”</p><p>“Yes, it’s about time. The counter is right where we want it.”</p><p>Kenma swallowed. </p><p>“Delete your account.”</p><p>Kenma stared at them. Goon A poked Pie with the gun again. </p><p>“Which account?” Kenma asked frantically. </p><p>“The one where you have the highest score.”</p><p>Kenma turned around and deleted his esports account. </p><p>“5th in the world? Nice. Now, how long have you been dating?”</p><p>“Four years.”</p><p>“That’s long. Lured by your fame, maybe?”</p><p>“We’re childhood friends.” Kenma bit out, insulted on Kuroo’s behalf. </p><p>“How romantic. I’m feeling generous here. Maybe you should tell him. I’m sure he’s watching you now too.”</p><p>Kenma stared at the screen, all thoughts gone from his head. What was he going to say? He hadn’t even prepared it yet and the idea of proposing to Kuroo online with a million people watching him do it before being shot was making him want to throw up. He didn’t want Kuroo to see this. He didn’t want his family to hurt. If they were going to kill him anyway, they shouldn’t have to see this. </p><p><br/>
</p><p>Kenma reached for the monitor. </p><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>The gun hit him across the face, making him stagger backwards.</p>
</div><p> </p><p>The alarm went off, the noise screaming through the house. </p><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>Kenma threw himself on the floor. </p>
</div><p> </p><p>Pie scrambled out of the room. </p><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>Gunfire went off. </p>
</div><p> </p><p>Footsteps and shouting were all around him.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/><p>Kenma didn’t want to open his eyes. If he just lay here on the floor, would everyone just...leave? He wanted to sleep for a week and didn’t want to see or speak to anyone for months. Except maybe Kuroo.</p><p>“Kenma!”</p><p>“Kuro?” Kenma lifted his head from the floor, as his boyfriend ran towards him.</p><p>Kenma had never been so happy to see him, even if he looked frantic. </p><p>“You’re bleeding.”</p><p>“I’m fine.”</p><p>“You’re alive”, Kuroo whispered. “I thought…”</p><p>Kenma let Kuroo crush him in an embrace, feeling safe and warm. Everything was just background noise and he felt light-headed with relief, letting Kuroo hold him up. </p><p>“When did you last eat?”</p><p>“You’re seriously going to ask about that now?”</p><p>“You can barely stand up. Did you even have lunch?”</p><p>Kenma burrowed deeper into his arms, sighing, as police and ambulance staff swarmed around them, asking him question after question.  </p><p>“Kuro, can you turn the monitor off?”</p><p>“Of course kitten.”<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><p><br/>
<br/>
<i>This is Tadahiko Sako on TBS. As seen in this footage, the youtuber Kodzuken was admitted to the hospital a while ago, after police broke into the house where he’d been held hostage. The two men responsible were shot at the scene. There has been no statement released about them yet. Kozume Kenma is not reported to be seriously hurt, as he could walk from the scene with some aid of his boyfriend, but he’s been through a lot these past hours. His family has been brought inside. Here we can see his parents and his grandmother entering the hospital. Fans are gathering to show their support. My colleague Tetsuya Chikushi will now summarize the events for new listeners...  </i>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/>Kenma thought their bed had never felt this wonderful before. He was clean, warm and clad in the softest clothes Kuroo had been able to dig out of their wardrobe. After the doctors and the police were done with him they’d been asked whether they wanted to sleep in a hotel or at his parents’ house, but he’d insisted on going home instead. His office/gaming room was still off-limits and the police stood guard, but their bedroom was his safe place and he’d wanted to be there for the cats. Also, this was his and Kuroo’s home and he refused to have that taken from him.<p>Kuroo paused in his gentle stroking of Kenma’s hair, feeling him snuggle even closer in his position half-on top of him. Kenma on a normal day was very clingy when he was tired and this day had been far from normal.</p><p>“So...um...your viewers had some surprises today. I must admit there was some information that even I didn’t know about…”</p><p>Kenma blinked up at him. </p><p>“I was going to tell you eventually, but we didn’t want you to worry about it when there was no need.”</p><p>“I didn’t mean that part”, Kuroo groaned, “but you can tell me about that too. Grandmother said Grandfather left her money.”</p><p>“He did, though not that much.”</p><p>“You’re not even letting me pay rent here, Kenma.” </p><p>“You can do that later when you’re not a student. You take care of me. I take care of you. We just do it a bit differently, is all.”</p><p>“So you like taking care of me, do you?” Kuroo grinned fondly at him.  </p><p>“Is it so weird? You’re my family”, Kenma muttered, burrowing his head into Kuroo’s chest, clearly embarrassed. </p><p>“That’s true. And you were apparently thinking about making it more official than I thought.”</p><p>“Did you see...the entire thing?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Kenma left Kuroo’s embrace briefly to pick up the box, then returned to press against him. </p><p>“Then you saw this too.”</p><p>“I did.” Kuroo whispered. </p><p>“Were you surprised?”</p><p>“Both yes and no. I mean, I’ve never doubted your feelings, but you’ve never mentioned it was your thing.”</p><p>“I never thought it was”, Kenma mused, drawing circles on Kuroo’s chest. “You’ve always been important to me anyway, so I didn’t think it was needed. But...I was talking to Grandmother a lot after Grandfather was gone and referring to you as only my boyfriend suddenly felt very insufficient.”</p><p>“I can’t believe you spent more on jewelry than games in one month.”</p><p>“They ended up a bit more expensive than planned, because I decided I wanted them done by the same person who did your grandparents’ rings.”</p><p>“The same guy? He’s still alive?”</p><p>“He’s still alive, though he only takes on very special cases. It took a while to convince him. Grandmother helped. They contain parts of your grandparents’ rings too.”</p><p>“Wh...what? But...”</p><p>“Grandmother wanted to just give them to me at first. She said it was only fitting for another childhood friend couple, but I couldn’t accept to take her memories from her, so we compromised. Since she usually wears them on a chain nowadays anyway, he remade the rest of them into a pendant for her.”</p><p>Kuroo stared at Kenma, blinking back tears. </p><p>“You’re not supposed to cry when I’m being sappy for once.”</p><p>“It’s happy tears”, Kuroo protested, “and I’m allowed to cry a bit after this you know. This is so romantic I don’t even know what to do.”</p><p>“You could say yes, I suppose.”</p><p>“You already know I’m going to do that!”</p><p>Kuroo pulled Kenma closer, sighing against his head. </p><p>“I could have lost you”, Kuroo whispered. “I was so afraid I’d lose you.” </p><p>Kenma looked up at him, golden eyes thoughtful. </p><p>“When I thought I was going to die…my thoughts were mainly of you. How much it would hurt you. How much I didn’t want to die. Because I want...more years with you.”</p><p>Kuroo kissed him softly, careful not to hurt him. </p><p>“Are you going to put it on me?”</p><p>“...are you sure you don’t want a real romantic proposal first?”</p><p>“More romantic than this? Do you want to kill me?”</p><p>Kenma put the ring on Kuroo’s finger and let him do the same on his. </p><p>“Wow... when are we going to get married?”</p><p>Kenma groaned. </p><p>“Maybe in a year or so?”</p><p>“That’s too long!”</p><p>“April?”</p><p>“Why April?”</p><p>“You always say we should have more to celebrate in Spring, with our birthdays both being in Autumn. To even it out.”</p><p>“You have the best ideas.”<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/>Kenma guessed he shouldn’t be surprised, but he was honestly flabbergasted by the amount of messages and mentions he’d received just overnight. Didn’t any of his fans sleep? Ok, he’d slept for over 12 hours, but still. As he went through the feeds with Kuroo curled around him, it was hard not to feel touched by the amount of support. He browsed through messages, vouchers for pie, home-made drawings and people posing for selfies with Bouncing Ball merch. There were tags of “support Kodzuken” and petitions to make the league restore his account.<p>People had made “best of” videos of the entire live-stream with just highlights, as well as several memes (“it’s a volleyball...bitch” was Kuroo’s favourite). Kenma especially appreciated the videos where fans had inserted hilarious voice-overs or thought bubbles all over it, though he decided his favourite was the one where Pie transformed into Godzilla and blasted the goons at the end. </p><p>Most of the messages were just variations of:<br/>
“How are you?”<br/>
“How’s Pie?”<br/>
“How’s the BF?”</p><p>“They love you Kenma” Kuroo said, as if that was only natural for everyone to do.</p><p>“I should probably post something to say I’m ok...but maybe I shouldn’t show them my face just yet.”</p><p>Kenma made a rueful grimace and winced as it pulled at the gash. His face was now also purple and a bit swollen in places. </p><p>Kenma began to write.  </p><p>
  <i>Thank you for your support.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>“Kenma, that sounds like you’re thanking them for donations. More personal! Make an effort!”</i>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Kenma sighed and tried again a few times until Kuroo was satisfied. </i>
  </i>
</p><p>
      <i>Thank you for your messages, cards, gifts and all the great videos. I am reading and watching them all and they mean a lot. Pie is fine. He’s in good paws (Kuro wrote that part), as am I.</i>

</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>Kenma then added a picture of Pie and Mochi asleep on Kuroo’s lap, together with his and Kuroo’s ring-clad hands.<br/>
<br/>
</i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ¤¤¤ </p>
</div><br/>Kenma stared at his follower count in disbelief. Well, he expected it to go down later once people realized he wasn’t normally involved in hostage situations. Besides, he knew many had just joined temporarily to get him better ad revenue as a show of support.<p>“Hello everyone, I’m under orders to rest a while longer, but I’m going to play a bit and thought I’d let you know what I’ll be doing going forward. With my Esports account deleted, I can’t do the regular matches there right now, so instead I’m going to do something I’ve considered earlier and analyze the strategies of the top 10, plus coach a few selected players with potential. You can apply and suggest users on my page. I will still play new games and selected favourites. I will also test grinding back to my old position from scratch. It’s been years since I played on that level, so it’ll be fun and hopefully educational for beginners. The time table is on the site and it all starts in a week. Meanwhile, we’re doing some “best of” reruns and I’ll likely grind and play at adhoc moments.”</p><p>“My channel is about games, so for everyone joining for drama, this is not the place. However, I’ll try to be a bit more open about personal things. All the messages you sent me meant a lot, so I’ll do my best. If you have any suggestions, please send them.” </p><p>“Some questions now? Sure, fire away. The engagement? It happened. He saw the whole thing. Afterwards, I gave it to him and he said yes. Am I happy? Well yes. It’s always been him for me, rings or not. Does my face hurt? A little bit, but it’s getting better. Where you can buy my hoodies? There are links on my page. I think they’re sold out right now though. We’re working on refilling the stock. I think we still have socks. Does Kuro like gaming?”</p><p>Kenma cracked a rare laugh and winced as it pulled at the taped gash. </p><p>“I’m not saying he doesn’t play, but it’s not his main thing. Why am I marrying him then? There’s no one I’d rather spend time with I guess. He’s my best friend. No, you don’t have to marry all your friends obviously, but if you also want to kiss them it might be a good idea.” </p><p>“Now, let’s play.” </p><p> </p><p>(KODZUKEN - subscribe, about, news, bouncing ball)</p><p>
  
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you liked the story it would be great to know which parts were most enjoyable to you.</p><p>This story is part of the <a>LLF Comment Project</a>, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:</p><ul>
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</ul><p><a>LLF Comment Builder</a><br/>This author replies to comments.<br/>If you don’t want me to reply to your comment, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!</p><p> </p><p>If you want to read more kuroken, feel free to check out my other <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlipSideofC/works">works</a>, as well as my <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlipSideofC/bookmarks">bookmarks</a> and/or <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Recommended_KuroKen_Fics/works">collection</a> for some recommended kuroken goodness!</p><p> </p><p>The hyper talented Kanon has made art for this fic. Heap her with praise <a href="https://twitter.com/halfquaint/status/1262391135923773448?s=20">here</a>.</p><p>If you want to share this fic on Twitter, you can use the share button, or retweet my original post <a href="https://twitter.com/flipsideofc/status/1261040273766985729?s=20">here</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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